Nathan Hale was born on June 6, 1755, in Coventry, Connecticut, to Richard Hale, a prosperous farmer, untiring patriot and church deacon, and his wife, Elizabeth Strong Hale. Nathan was the sixth child, one of nine sons and three daughters, ten of whom survived to adulthood. Nathan’s mother did survive the birth of her twelfth child, but only by a few months, leaving Nathan motherless at age 12. With young children to raise and a large farm to manage, Deacon Richard Hale remarried two years later to a wealthy widow from Canterbury, Abigail Cobb Adams
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Little detail is known about Nathan’s childhood but he certainly would have helped with the many farm and household chores and spent many happy hours hunting, fishing, and “bathing” in the nearby lake. His fowling piece hangs in the family home today. Sundays were spent in church, morning and afternoon. Another treasured item at the Homestead is Nathan’s Bible, signed by him, with a few verses marked: “In my father’s house are many mansions and I go to prepare a place for you,” a famous passage.
Nathan and his brother Enoch were prepared for Yale by the well-known Congregational divine, the Rev. Dr. Joseph Huntington. School was the local minister’s home, two miles away; the curriculum was Latin, Greek, Hebrew, penmanship, among other subjects
In 1769, at age 14 Nathan had demonstrated sufficient knowledge of the classics in addition to New Testament Greek and set off with Enoch for Yale College in New Haven. The boys lodged in Connecticut Hall, the only Yale building now standing that Nathan knew; his statue stands in front of it today.
Dubbed “Hale Secundus,” (Enoch being “Primus”) Nathan was a good student who also enjoyed the sports of the day. Legend has it that his record for the broad-jump held till some years after his death. In his second year, Nathan was elected to a secret literary fraternity known as Linonia for which he was scribe, librarian, and finally president. He was apparently a popular and respected student though not perfectly well behaved. His quarterly bills indicate that he was charged for broken window glass and other damages, and he was once fined four shillings as “Punishment.” Nathan was active in debating and dramatic productions and organized the fraternity’s library, even donating a copy of “The Travels of Cyrus” and “the Spectator” to the collection.
Little is known about Nathan Hale’s work as an undercover agent. His missions, his whereabouts, his experiences are only dimly understood. This uncertainty has made him a popular subject with writers of historical fiction, who thus feel free to add their own details. Contemporary newspaper accounts are contradictory. The memories of his colleagues about what happened, mostly recorded decades later, are of uncertain value. Hale compounded the problems because he stopped writing a detailed diary. Even the Army order books are vague.
According to a friend and schoolmate of Nathan’s, William Hull, Nathan debated about whether to go on a covert mission in August of 1776. William, who later became a General, reported a number of years after the Revolution that he had tried to dissuade Nathan from accepting his last spying mission. He told Nathan that being a spy was dishonorable in the eyes of the world and to be caught meant certain and inglorious death. Even success would not bring honor, William reasoned. Nathan argued back and finally concluded: ‘I wish to be useful, and every kind of service, necessary to the public good, becomes honorable by being necessary.”
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Little detail is known about Nathan’s childhood but he certainly would have helped with the many farm and household chores and spent many happy hours hunting, fishing, and “bathing” in the nearby lake. His fowling piece hangs in the family home today. Sundays were spent in church, morning and afternoon. Another treasured item at the Homestead is Nathan’s Bible, signed by him, with a few verses marked: “In my father’s house are many mansions and I go to prepare a place for you,” a famous passage.
Nathan and his brother Enoch were prepared for Yale by the well-known Congregational divine, the Rev. Dr. Joseph Huntington. School was the local minister’s home, two miles away; the curriculum was Latin, Greek, Hebrew, penmanship, among other subjects
In 1769, at age 14 Nathan had demonstrated sufficient knowledge of the classics in addition to New Testament Greek and set off with Enoch for Yale College in New Haven. The boys lodged in Connecticut Hall, the only Yale building now standing that Nathan knew; his statue stands in front of it today.
Dubbed “Hale Secundus,” (Enoch being “Primus”) Nathan was a good student who also enjoyed the sports of the day. Legend has it that his record for the broad-jump held till some years after his death. In his second year, Nathan was elected to a secret literary fraternity known as Linonia for which he was scribe, librarian, and finally president. He was apparently a popular and respected student though not perfectly well behaved. His quarterly bills indicate that he was charged for broken window glass and other damages, and he was once fined four shillings as “Punishment.” Nathan was active in debating and dramatic productions and organized the fraternity’s library, even donating a copy of “The Travels of Cyrus” and “the Spectator” to the collection.
Little is known about Nathan Hale’s work as an undercover agent. His missions, his whereabouts, his experiences are only dimly understood. This uncertainty has made him a popular subject with writers of historical fiction, who thus feel free to add their own details. Contemporary newspaper accounts are contradictory. The memories of his colleagues about what happened, mostly recorded decades later, are of uncertain value. Hale compounded the problems because he stopped writing a detailed diary. Even the Army order books are vague.
According to a friend and schoolmate of Nathan’s, William Hull, Nathan debated about whether to go on a covert mission in August of 1776. William, who later became a General, reported a number of years after the Revolution that he had tried to dissuade Nathan from accepting his last spying mission. He told Nathan that being a spy was dishonorable in the eyes of the world and to be caught meant certain and inglorious death. Even success would not bring honor, William reasoned. Nathan argued back and finally concluded: ‘I wish to be useful, and every kind of service, necessary to the public good, becomes honorable by being necessary.”